Army on a roll: 11 more tons of pot seized

Military authorities also seize cocaine, meth

Por: Omar Millán 19 Octubre 2011 @ 9:28 pm
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Army soldiers display the 1,128 packages of marijuana they seized Tuesday in three operations in Tijuana. David Maung / SanDiegoRed.com

TIJUANA – In a period of 15 days, Mexico’s army has confiscated a little more than 24 tons of marijuana and a bit more than one ton of cocaine.

The commander of Baja California’s Second Military Zone, Gen. Gilberto Landeros, estimated that these seizures have a combined value on the black market of $54.4 million.

On Wednesday, army soldiers displayed at the Morelos barracks their haul from their most recent drug seizures, carried out simultaneously Tuesday in Tijuana, in coordination with municipal police.

They showed 996 packages of marijuana, with a combined weight of 20,583 pounds, which were confiscated from a warehouse in the city’s south side; and another 132 packages of marijuana, with a total weight of 2,200 pounds, seized from two houses in the city’s east side.

In Mexicali, meanwhile, the army seized 5.1 pounds of cocaine, 4 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, one pound of marijuana, two hand guns, 334 rounds of various calibers and one vehicle, the general said.

Landeros was accompanied by Tijuana’s new Secretary for Public Safety, Alberto Capella, and the new police chief, Ricardo Hernández, in an effort to show that the institutional cooperation between the army and municipal authorities continues despite the departure of the retired army captain who headed the municipal force just 15 days ago.

In Tijuana, military personnel in coordination with municipal police discovered a warehouse packed with drugs when they were patrolling in colonia Cuestecita, in the San Antonio de los Buenos district. They found there 20,603 pounds of marijuana but no suspects.

Meanwhile, following an anonymous crime tip, military authorities found 2,206 pounds of marijuana inside a house in colonia Tierra y Libertad, in the La Presa district, and detained one person.

Another anonymous tip led military authorities to a street in the Reforma neighborhood, in the Sánchez Taboada district, where they detained two people who allegedly had three packages of marijuana in their vehicle, weighing a total of 47 pounds.

In Mexicali, meanwhile, Landeros said that military personnel, in coordination with state and municipal police agents, investigated an anonymous tip that took them to the Cuauhtémoc Norte neighborhood. There, they detained three people who were allegedly carrying [b]2.3 pounds of “crystalâ€